


There's a first time for everything

by bubblePop



Series: Your Best Friend [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: (by which i mean Flowey throwing a harmless pellet or two that's it), Violence, duh - Freeform, killing is mentioned, really there isn't really much to warn you about going into this, resets don't affect the surface, uh i suppose a funeral is mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-27 19:34:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12589032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bubblePop/pseuds/bubblePop
Summary: Frisk's family grew old without them while they reset underground. So what more can they do but keep resetting anyway? They have nothing to lose, no one to care about and nothing fun to do.Fortunately, there's someone else down here who's felt the exact same way before :D_________This series is going to be a collection of random ideas I had about an AU where Frisk becomes bored like Flowey did and they go around messing with people's lives and timelines together.





	1. Chapter 1

Down here, first times get old real fast. Like water slipping through their fingers, Frisk had barely even had time to appreciate most of theirs in that initial run. It is a waste that they don’t enjoy repeating.

— — —

Their entire body feels stiff. Nothing new there. As much as they reset, those first moments always ache like hell just as much as that original fall. Choosing to leave their eyes closed a little longer, they take a moment to just breathe it all in.

The light dust in the air that had become a staple of Underground life. ( _Damn_ how they hate that smell) That pathetic excuse for real sunlight somehow shining past the barrier. Cold empty silence.

This is as good as it gets these days.

…And yes. Frisk is quite aware of how depressing that is.

Instead of standing, they curl further into the bed of petals. A new first for the collection. Wrong as it is, they don’t want to leave that patch of godforsaken grave weeds yet. (Boy was it a fun moment when they pieced _that_ little fact together)

It had been their nephew this time. The reason they reset. The funeral had been beautiful. All the kid’s family had shown up. Kids, grandkids. Frisk swore they saw a great grandkid in the crowd somewhere. Though, it was a little hard to make out standing a couple metres away concealed behind a parking van in the distance.

Stories were shared, tears were shed. All in all, it was one of the happier ones Frisk had witnessed over the years. A shame really they hadn’t bothered introducing themselves that time. But what were they supposed to say? “Hi, kids! I’m your great grandparents’ child that went missing about a century or so ago. Turns out I’m not dead! I’ve just been repeating an enclosed timeloop over and over again without ageing for a while. Give me a hug!”

No. They’d never believe them.

Frisk hadn’t noticed it to begin with. That time was moving on without them with each run they were gone. The reality crept up on them in little things so slowly they barely noticed. It wasn’t until their mother’s death that things really clicked. That day they made a true reset - another memorable first.

It wouldn’t be the last.

Initially they refused to believe it. Grandpa. Reset. Father. Reset. Uncle. Reset. They _had_ to be able to fix it. They were determined weren’t they? _Weren’t they?_ But the more they reset the older everyone grew. They couldn’t stop. Escaping from their problems, they would reset again and again. Hoping that somehow, one day, the magic would actually stick.

People eventually stopped recognising them. Frisk eventually stopped trying to be. It became an empty pattern. Break the barrier, discover a new surface, watch their family live and die, reset.

The world moved on without them. It became as foreign to Frisk as to the monsters. _They_ never grew up either. In fact, they never changed at all, down to letter. Once or twice Frisk had lashed out and killed creatures down there out of pure frustration. Still nothing. It never changes.

Lying in that pile of crumpling buttercups Frisk has a thought. A first so crazy, an earlier them would have _never_ considered it for a moment. Rising from that pile of buttercups, Frisk has a really bad idea.

— — —

“Howdy! My name is-“ “Oh **_shut up_** Flowey.” They groan. The amount of craps they give today is dangerously close to zero.

“Hee hee hee…” He giggles in that obnoxious chirp of his. Behind the smile there is a glint of annoyance in his eyes. Flowey hates being interrupted.

“I’ve reset all of two minutes ago, I have a pounding headache and I’m _this close_ to shoving a friendliness pellet down your throat. So can we please drop the sugar act?” Frisk sighs.

Flowey grins and shifts his face into a pout. “Awww why? Is the poor human getting tired of resetting this world? **Or are you just bored of killing them all over and over again?** ”

This is meant to insult Frisk. But it really doesn’t. They made their peace with monster death what they guess would be decades ago on the surface. Though, it’s hard to keep track of the exact time anymore.

“Well, I’d _love_ to stay and chat, but Toriel’s going to come any moment now. So if I were you, I’d hide in the next 40 seconds.”

To prove their point, footsteps begin pattering in the distance. Their comment earns a glare. “Gee, what’s got _you_ in a bad mood?”

_The futility of existence,_ they think to themself. Instead they just shrug. “28 seconds now. Plenty of shadows around here. You’re welcome to hide with me if you want.”

The footsteps get closer and Frisk calmly presses themself against a wall. It’s rough and… wet? They don’t want to know. Flowey keeps staring at them. _What game are you playing?_

The door bursts open and he ducks into the ground. Toriel glides past the two towards her adopted child’s grave without a second glance. She hums a soft familiar tune in time with her walk, a solemn bob to her step.

The two wait another ten seconds before moving back into the light.

Frisk smirks at Flowey as he wriggles back up. He squirms a little under the gaze. “It… It was just to stop the old hag from setting me on fire! Not because you _told_ me to or anything!”

“…You idiot!” He adds as an afterthought.

They roll their eyes. _Sure it was_. Getting comfortable, Frisk sits down on the miniature field of grass. Surprisingly it’s more cozy than the flower bed. “So,” They pluck out a blade of two. “I wake up down here again and I start thinking.”

“A dangerous pass time.” Flowey smirks weaving closer.

“I was thinking about what you said.” Frisk continues, ignoring him. “About you and me. Playing around in here. Forever.”

“Yeah, so what?”

“I’m game. Let’s do it.”

…

“Wait, _what?_ ”

 


	2. Chapter 2

Frisk fidgets the way their jumper rests in the tangle of grass in frustration …Do they really want to do this?

They already know the answer.

Decided, they then lift their head up to face Flowey head-on. All their pent up frustration, all those _emotions_ they can’t bear to feel anymore come rushing to the surface. Holding back a crazed giggle, they almost yell. **_“I don’t care anymore_** Flowey! I don’t care about the surface! I don’t care about the barrier! And I sure as hell don’t care about these monsters! I’m _completely_ out of ideas here!!”

They realise they’ve torn the grass apart in their clenched fists and take a breath to calm themself down. “Look… If I’m going to reset this place over and over again, I might as well have a partner, right?”

Flowey blinks. He knew it would happen. Of course he knew. Hadn’t he told them enough times that they’d stop caring eventually? Watching it happen at long last… is kind of terrifying.

Frisk watches them with a blank expression on their face. _No… They have to be lying…_ “ **You think you can lie to me.”** Flowey growls, twisting his face to bare his teeth. “ **This is your idea of a _joke_ to try and trick me to be friends with you, isn’t it?” **

He closes in around them with pointed vines. Frisk remains perfectly calm and still. Disinterested even. Thorns inches from their face, they shrug. “I honestly don’t care what you think of me. Anything you do to me I can just reset anyway.”

He looks into the emptiness of Frisk’s eyes. “…You’re being serious.” He whispers, half impressed.

“I…” They seem to struggle for the right words. “I just want to have a bit of _fun_ for once. I mean, I have all of this _power_ … and all I ever use it for is to collect endings that mean nothing after I reset anyway! You - you of all people should know how that feels… right?”

Flowey blinks. He doesn’t even have a sarcastic reply, he just nods his head a little encouragingly. It’s the first time in… heck, it’s the first time anyone’s _ever_ related to that feeling.

Frisk laughs coldly. “You had the right idea. Messing around with the present is so much more fun than trying to control the future. _Sooo_ ,” They close their eyes and grip their knees, pleading at Flowey. “I want to learn from you. _Join_ you.”

Oh this is just too good to pass up. Flowey starts laughing at them. It begins as a giggle, then slowly burns into uncontrollable chuckling. Frisk wants _him_ to help _them_? He keels over, the stem bent back so far he’s facing the door behind them. It’s hilarious! Ridiculous!

Frisk sits there glaring him while he gets the laughter out of his system. When it dies down, they continue.

“Whenever you want to reset, say the word and it’s done. Reload? No problem. You want me to distract Sans so you can get to Papyrus? Fine. Want to play around with the six souls? Simple. You and me. Working together. Partn-“

“What’s the catch?” Flowey interrupts. His eyes narrow. “Why are you doing this?”

They smile at him, confused. “I just said.”

He hisses and shakes his head sharply. “No you idiot! I mean why are you stupid enough to do this with _me_? Why play nice?”

“Because you’re the only one who remembers. You’re the only one I _can_ play with. I want to tear this world apart and find out every little detail of it. I want to do something _interesting_ for once. Why wouldn’t I team up with the resident expert on doing just that?”

They roll up closer to Flowey with a yawn. “Besides, you were annoyed when I overrode your determination, right? Think about this as me making it up to you. A trade: my power for your… ‘ _expertise’._ ”

…

“How do I know I can trust you?”

This makes Frisk fall over laughing. The crazed howling makes Flowey flinch and check over his shoulder to make sure Toriel doesn’t come back. _Just how over the edge are they?_ He asks himself. He knew that Frisk would be a little crazy when they finally did it. Wasn’t he? But this was another level. All he could do was watch.

“Trust me?” The wipe away the tears. “Oh that would be a terrible idea! No! Of course you can’t trust me.”

"He leans back away from Frisk. “Golly, I you’ve got to work on your persuasion skills there kid.

"Well, it’s not like I can exactly trust you either Flowey.” They smile. “I think that makes us even.”

“Do you just not know how partnerships work or are you too _braindead_ to put one and two together here?”

“Okay, fine. How about this? I promise to tell you nothing but the truth -the _whole_ truth- from this moment on. And if you don’t like what you hear, then we just break it off. No harm no fowl.”

They thrust out an open hand. “Sound fair?”

Flowey hesitates.

They sigh with frustration. “Look, this is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done, but I’m willing to give this a shot. I’ve got literally nothing to lose here. Really, you don’t either. Are you in or not?”

He looks down at their hand. “…You really are an idiot, aren’t you?”

“Yep.” 

A vine wraps around Frisk’s arm.

“So what exactly do you have in mind?”


	3. Chapter 3

“Wait. You mean to tell me you’ve reset MY memories before!” Flowey hisses.

“Yeah.”

Frisk has just been explaining everything they know about the underground.

They had managed to avoid Toriel (not hard when Flowey has already memorised her routine to the letter, correlated with every detail Frisk understands about the ‘unexpected’ intervention of Annoying Dog) and were sitting in an isolated room of the ruins.

As far as Frisk saw it, there was no point going in blind. “Might as well just explain everything we know to each other,” they’d said, It’ll make things more fun that way.” Flowey of course was sceptical, so Frisk had decided to go first.

“How many times?” He demanded. “And how?”

Frisk frowns, looking up to try and remember. “Uhhh… well, you basically forgot every time I did a true pacifist or a full genocide ( _What does that even mean?_ -I’ll tell you later) So… probably about fifty times? It’s not like I was really keeping track.”

“ **WHAT?!** ”

“Hey! I told you I’d be honest! Besides, they’re the best runs to do because I get more run time out of them.”

They pause for a second and add moodily. “Not my fault you choose to surrender your memories after it. Anyway, I haven’t done a full genocide route since that first time. Something tells me if I gave Chara control again they’d never give it back…”

Frisk becomes lost in thought considering the possibility.

“I… surrendered my memories to you? Hold up- **did you say _Chara_?** ” Flowey flounders, trying to catch up.

Frisk sighs. This action is becoming a regular occurrence.

“I should probably start at the beginning.” They ease into a comfortable position against the soft brick.

“When I go through the Underground without killing a single monster and paying special attention to Papyrus, Undyne and Alphys - it changes the ending. I call it a true pacifist ending.Instead of killing Asgore, all the monsters intervene and convince him to live “ _happily ever after”_ with the rest of them.”

They both roll their eyes and snort.

“While everyone’s having their little pow-wow, you steal the six souls and capture all the monsters. You monologue for a little bit then for some reason literally every monster in the underground tries to help me. You steal their souls too because _obviously_. The combined force of all the monsters in the Underground is equivalent to one human soul, making you a god.”

Flowey’s eyes go wide, but Frisk continues boredly without noticing.

“And _then_ with that power you regain your true form. You become Asriel again, he fights me for a bit, I do some mercy stuff and eventually stops like the crybaby he is and lets me go. With that combined power, Asriel breaks the barrier then returns the souls because he’s such a good person blah blah blah. Without the souls he slowly turns back into you but when I go to reset he begs me not to and says that if I do he doesn’t want to remember doing this. So here you are.”

The look on Flowey’s face shows that he believes them. Of course he would do that. It’s been forever, but he still remembers that wimpy kid he once was. And that is _exactly_ what that wimpy kid would’ve done. Down to the letter. The truth of it terrifies him.

Frisk is being deliberate in treating Asriel as a separate person to Flowey. It would do no good to get Flowey’s hopes up about becoming Asriel again. What’s more, they know he will appreciate the gesture. He always was sensitive about his past. Considering the situation, a little kindness could go a long way.

_Hmm._ Frisk files away the strategy for later use.

“The only other time it happened was when I did a full genocide. You know, systematically killed every monster I could possibly face,” They yawn.

“You’re were so happy when I did that one. See, when I fell into the underground - on that stinking bed of flowers - my determination accidentally woke _something_ up.”

Their face turns serious. “When I have that serious intent to kill all monsters, deliberately gaining as much LV as I can, they grow stronger and start talking to me. And when I got reckless and killed everything, they became stronger than me and I began to lose control altogether.”

Frisk looks up, a weak grin on their face. “But you already know who I’m talking about, don’t you.”

“…Chara.” Flowey whispers.

Frisk claps their hands. “Bingo!” They re-adjust their position, resting their hands behind their head before continuing.

“So I finally made it to Asgore, right? Chara had already taken full control by this point. And you were chattering away happily at how you were going to be the best of partners again.”

“ _People like us, People like us wouldn’t hesitate to kill each other if we got in our way…”_ Frisk was imitating Flowey’s high pitch chirp.

“And that’s when it finally clicked. Hahaha. The look in your eyes was _priceless_. When you realised that Chara saw you as another monster in their way-“

“ **You’re lying!** ” Flowey screeches.

Frisk sits up straight at the accusation. They knew going into this Flowey would find it hard to hear but it is necessary. They don’t want anything triggering Flowey’s memory to reset randomly. This is an important test to see if they can really co-operate.

“You’re lying! Ch-Chara would never do that to me.”

Even Flowey can recognise the doubt in his own voice, but vines start wrapping their way around Frisk anyway. They don’t even try to resist. Seeing an opportunity, they continue.

“Hey, I don’t pretend to know what was going on in their head at the time. By that point, I was just along for the ride. Trust me though, you weren’t the only one they screwed over that day.”

Frisk darkens at the memory.

“I was lucky to get out of there at all. They wanted to _destroy_ the timeline all together! No more resets! No more runs! They wanted to turn _everything_ to nothing. We had a deal! I get the feeling if I’d said yes to them they would have just ripped me to pieces too.” Frisk smiled. “ _Just. Like. You._ ”

“ **Shut up!** Shut up shut up _shut up_!You’re _lying._ Stop saying those things about them! It’s not true! _”_

His voice, already unusually high, has become a squeak. The vines get tighter around Frisk’s neck. They notice though that Flowey isn’t just killing them straight off with bullets. This conversation is going better than expected. Time to nail the final bolts in the coffin.

“Seems when I kill you, you lose all your memories of me. **Want to test it? See who’s right?** ”

They grip the stick from behind their back and let and instinctive bloodlust fill their eyes red. Blood rushes to their cheeks and they give a sick smile, staring right into Flowey’s eyes. It’s not nearly as intimidating as Chara’s black tar face, but the effect is still the same.

Flowey actually recoils at the sight of it. The vines loosen and Frisk drops back to the stone ground floor. His whole body backs away into a wall quickly out of self preservation. He knows as well as Frisk does that Chara was a lot more violent than anyone ever gave them credit for.

“Chara… Chara is really in there, with you?”

Frisk has never heard Flowey speak softly like this before. The noise softens the intensity of his normal trill, letting him sound more like Asriel.

Frisk lets out another sigh, getting to their feet. They _did_ say they’d tell the truth.

“To be honest, I don’t know how much of Chara is really _there_ anymore. I never met the original, so it’s possible it’s more like a memory of Chara - corrupted. A little like comparing you to Asriel.”

They look down at the ground and shudder. “When I faced them in that run, they didn’t even call themselves human. They said they were _the demon that comes when people call its name_.”

Both are quiet for a moment.

“Did they… did they ever mention me? When they talked to you.”

Flowey is speaking softly again. A small sound of resignation tinges his tone.

Frisk has to pause before answering.

“…Not directly. When Undyne destroys the bridge and I fall unconscious and sometimes I think they show me a memory by accident. I only hear yo- _Asriel_ ’s voice. When you first met, after they... ' _fell'_.”

Flowey stares into the distance, face flat. It is interesting for Frisk to watch. To see a creature incapable of love attempt to somehow react to what they just said.

“I said I wouldn’t lie to you, Flowey. I’ve been as honest as I can be. Are you satisfied yet?” Frisk needs to break up the silence. It is getting weird at this point.

Flowey turns to face them and nods, pulling out a silly smile. “Yep. Now we’re buddies for life.”

Frisk rolls their eyes. “I was asking a serious question you know.”

“Gee, golly Frisk! And here I was thinking I’d given you a serious answer.”

Without even realising, the two start laughing.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one doesn't flow well from the last one. Oh well :/

“Okay then, it’s your turn petals.”

“Really? What do you think _little old me_ could tell you that you don’t already know?” Flowey teases.

“Come on, don’t use that crap on me Flowey. There’s probably less dirt between those roots of yours than the stuff you’ve got on these monsters.”

He giggles. “I may know my fair share of secrets.”

Frisk sighs. “Care to share any with the class? Or are you just going to keep being coy?”

Flowey tsks at them, tapping a vine against their chin. “Touch-y. The deal never said anything about _me_ sharing. **Not my fault you’re just too lazy to waste timelines learning this stuff for yourself.** ” He growls, morphing into a demonic grin.

Frisk is getting used to Flowey’s sudden changes in character. They shrug at the question. “Technically, you don’t have to answer. It’s true, it does save me a lot of time. I just thought you’d want to do something a little more interesting then wait for me to catch up. Me, I’d be bored to death watching someone else try the same mistakes I did.”

Flowey considers the statement.

“Fine.” He finally snaps. He brings up a cheeky grin. “But I’m only answering what you ask, if you’re too much of an idiot to phrase the question right that’s your problem.”

“Fair enough.” Now they’re getting somewhere.

Flowey looks at them, adding with a slight annoyance. “And don’t bother asking about that smiley trash bag. Nothing I did could ever get the fool to open up to me.”

Frisk perk up at this. “You mean you don’t _know_?”

Flowey just glares at them. He doesn’t like the condescending tone of their voice. “Know _what_?” He hisses.

Frisk just smiles at them. “Mannn, you’ve been missing out. We should go visit his basement sometime.”

“Basement?”

“Damn, I guess Sans really _doesn’t_ trust you, does he?” They laugh.

“Frisk!” He groans, pushing them over with his head. They fall over from the impact, laughing. Flowey makes tiny growls of frustration watching them.

He raises his nose at them. “Hmph!”

Using a free arm, Frisk tugs Flowey’s stem and pulls him over too. The plant shrieks at the sudden movement making Frisk redouble in giggles.

“ **Oh you’re asking for it you little twit!** ” Flowey smiles as he pulls himself up. Tens of tiny pellets conjure around him, aiming their round blunted ends towards Frisk’s exposed behind.

With a yelp they start dodging and toss dirt at Flowey’s face. “Ewyuck!” He blabbers, spitting out the dust. Frisk starts darting from one side of the room to the other, trying to throw Flowey off.

“If you wanted to spar with me,” they grinned, “you could have just asked.”

 

_~One hour later~_

 

The two both breathe heavily in exhaustion, leaning against seperate walls for support.

“That *huff* was a fun *huff* fight.” Frisk says.

“Pfft! You could barely call it a fight.” Flowey barks, puffing out his petals. “You didn’t even take a single HP from me!”

“Well *huff* neither did you.” Frisk adds with a smirk, leaning over to try and get more air in their lungs.

“…That’s not the point!” Flowey growls. He’s trying to hide it, but his magic is almost completely deplenished as well. “ **Now are you going to tell me what you know about Sans or am I going to have to stop going easy on you?** ”

“Oh. Yeah. It’s a really interesting story that one.” Frisk says, finally catching their breath. “I’ll have to show you sometime. We’d have to go through a full run to do it though.”

He frowns angrily at them. “Can’t you just _tell_ me?”

“Aw, but it’s so much better to see in person.” Frisk coos. They stroke one of Flowey's vines softly and he whips it against their hand aggressively leaving a bruise. _Perhaps it's too soon for physical contact just yet._ Frisk thinks.

“You _said_ you’d tell me everything, remember?” He says angrily.

“Yeah. But I don’t have _words_ to describe some of the things I saw down there.”

He looks up at them with interest. “Okay, now you’ve got me _curious_.”

Frisk just shakes their head in amusement. “All in good time Flowey. We’ve got all the time in the world.”


	5. Chapter 5

Flowey was bobs along next to Frisk as they bypass the Ruins, avoiding Toriel. The small shadows dance against the purple backdrop as they wander through with familiar confidence.

“So what do you want to do first?”

“You’re asking me? Golly, I’m flattered Frisk.”

They take the idle teasing in their stride and smile. “There’s so many options to choose from. But I don’t want to bore you with something that isn’t new.”

“Boring is my whole life you idiot.” He reminds them. “…What did you have in mind?”

Frisk kicks a small pebble on the floor and watches it bounce past them with disinterest. “Well, I had a few ideas…”

“You’ve got a real issue with being pointlessly dramatic, you pinbrain. Just spit it out already.”

“Oh, you know, nothing special.” They shrug. “Maybe starting off simple? Pitting all the monsters together in mortal combat?”

Flowey blinks, then a smile creeps up his face.

“Dibs on Undyne!” He spits quickly.

“Heheh. Ok, then I get Papyrus.” Frisk grins.

“No fair!!! That’s a package deal with Sans and you know it.” Flowey moans childishly.

“I’ll tell you what, leave Sans as a wild card. Extra points if you can get him to turn on his brother.” They chant.

“Is that… a _challenge_? I should point out I have been doing this longer than you, you little-”

“What? Is the little flower _scared_?” Frisk teases.

“That’s it, you’re so losing this!”

This might be the start of an interesting friendship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah. Writing a whole war between monsters might be a little hard. Who knows if I'll actually do that. But i was thinking maybe every now and then when i felt like it i could write some of the little adventures this unlikely pair get up to. Maybe. If i get around to it.
> 
> Perhaps with some subplot about the two constantly doubling-crossing eachother and stuff because that's what makes it fun! :DDD
> 
> PS: i keep noticing that my writing sorta deteriorates over time if you notice the quality difference between chapters 1 and 5 :/ Welp. Only way to fix that is practice right?!


End file.
